finished a different finish

This mirror is a copy from the original wooden one i'd made earlier. It's cast in plaster of Paris, which turned out quite a challenge cos of the delicate shapes combined with the brittle characteristic of gypsum. I still managed to get one or two good casts (with accompanied swearing, sorry bout that). I will try out casting it in resin too, but proceeded with the gilding process to see how that would work (i.e.learn from my mistakes :))

It's very time consuming with all the details. First a red base which is easy with plaster cos it takes any craft paint. Then a thin layer of acrylic gilding size, letting it rest for 15-20 minutes till it's tacky. And finally applying the leaf metal. And repeating this process section for section. 

The metal had a harsh shine to it as you can see on the right side of the picture. I toned it down a little with colored gold wax as you can see on the left side of the picture. That gave the added benefit of picking up on all the detailing so I'm more then happy with this finish. Hope you like it too.  

Enjoy creating

Debora